Shobna Gulati, a client of ours since 2012

Shobna Gulati, a client of ours since 2012 was questioned by the Daily Mirror on Monday 12th of May 2014 on all things health and this is what she had to say: Age is a word not a sentence says Loose Women panellist Shobna Gulati Is keeping fit important? I’m only a couple of years away from my 50th birthday so I’m really trying to take care of myself. I’ve suffered from body dysmorphia and low self-esteem over the years but exercise always makes me feel better, so twice or three times a week I go to Body Pro Personal Training in Rochdale, and they look after my physical and emotional well-being. They give me high-intensity interval workouts, a mix of aerobic and anaerobic exercises. Do you still suffer from your eating disorder? I don’t eat enough when I get stressed but I have therapy at least once a month to keep it at bay and stop it from developing into a disorder. About seven years ago, after a ­relationship ended, I dropped to six-and-a-half stone. Now I weigh seven-and-a-half stone. I’d like to be a stone heavier but I’m getting there. Have you suffered any major health scares? I had stomach ache for a lot of my life until about six years ago when I collapsed on the set of Corrie after eating a ham sandwich made from thick white bread. I had a blood test and was diagnosed with coeliac disease. It is hard when I go to my mum’s for dinner. I am Punjabi and our diet is very wheat-based. I have been brought up on rotis and chapatis and I can’t eat them. The saving grace is I no longer get stomach pains. What is your last-minute red carpet fix? I have my eyebrows done with the HD Brows treatment as it defines and enhances my eyebrows and makes my features look softer. I look younger after having it done. My make-up artist Armand Beasley, who I’ve used since I first joined Corrie in 2001, uses posh make-up to transform me and my favourite product is Mac’s Face and Body Foundation. I use it all over my body and on my stretch marks and my knobby knees. The other fix is that me and my mates drink Champagne and giggle a lot. Do you ever diet? Sometimes I will do a three-day juice diet, then eat for the other four days. But it’s not about weight loss. I go to Juice Life, in Alderley Edge in Cheshire, and they make up all the juices for me. I love their grapefruit, carrot and beetroot juices. What signs of ageing have you noticed? More wrinkles and drier hair and skin. I said to my boyfriend the other day: “I am starting to look really old.” But I think I’m going through the perimenopause as I’ve noticed that my jawline has gone a bit jowly. If it all fell apart, then I would have a facelift. For now, I combat it by having a collagen wave facial and that makes everything tighter and firmer. Recently, I have been having chats with Janet Street Porter on Loose Women about the menopause but I don’t want to think about that just yet. What one thing would you change? To have thicker, more lustrous hair. My hair first started falling out in clumps when my dad died and I was only 19. At 28, I became pregnant and I split up with Akshay’s father. It was hard being a single mum and, because of the stress, my hair started to fall out in clumps again. I remember handfuls on the pillow when I woke up. It did grow back but it was never the same. Ever since, it has been very thin, especially on the top of my head and I have bald patches on the side too. Last year it got bad when I was filming my exit scenes from Corrie. I was so worried they weren’t going to be realistic enough. How have you managed to disguise it? When I was on Corrie, hairdressers styled it in a certain way and you never saw it clipped back or pulled up. Then I started to have extensions put in but that ruined my hair and now I use clip-in hair extensions and I ask the hairdressers on Loose Women to use them. For the last four months I’ve use Viviscal hair supplements and Viviscal serum and it has helped. How do you feel about turning 50? I believe in the motto that age is only a word and not a sentence. I might look older with advancing years but I love what is happening to my brain and self-knowledge and I feel better knowing that. With wisdom, everything can be dealt with. My advice to women in their 40s would be to have two decent nutritious meals a day – and that will take you into old age.